How events unfolded on the fateful night

The flight to Syria was planned in advance. The artists of the Alexandrov Ensemble, almost in full force, flew to the Khmeimim airbase to congratulate our military on the New Year. Along with them on board were the famous and beloved doctor Elizaveta Glinka (Doctor Lisa), 9 journalists from federal television channels: Channel One, NTV, Zvezda. In total there were 8 crew members and 84 passengers on board. Another plane was also flying to Syria - but only with military personnel.

A lot of accidents have accumulated in this tragedy. As it turned out, until the last minute the lists of journalists who were supposed to fly to Syria were being agreed upon. For example, as MK learned, from only one TV channel, which also lost its correspondents in this tragedy, two people canceled their business trip at the last moment. Joseph Kobzon was also supposed to fly on this plane. One of the soloists of the ensemble refused to tour due to the birth of his son... As a result, at least a day before departure, a final list of all those flying was compiled.


(24.12) 21.00. By this hour, almost everyone flying to Syria had gathered at Chkalovsky airport. It is from here that military flights to Syria take off.

00.00. As a rule, no more than three hours are allotted for collection at Chkalovsky airport and check-in for the flight. And around midnight, the Ministry of Defense plane took off from Moscow to Sochi.

(25.12). 2.30. The Ministry of Defense plane landed safely at Adler airport. Customs clearance has begun.

2.30–5.00. The plane went through customs, refueled and began preparing for the scheduled flight Sochi-Khmeimim.

5.21. The plane took off from Adler airport. He began to gain altitude.

5.25. Without gaining altitude, the plane made a turn towards the departure airfield.

5.27. The mark of the Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense disappeared from the radars.

7.50. The first reports of a plane crash were received.

7.59. Information was confirmed that on board the plane there were artists from the ensemble named after. Alexandrova.

8.20. It was confirmed that there were also journalists on board.

9.00. It was confirmed that human rights activist and doctor Elizaveta Glinka, also known as Doctor Lisa, was on board.

9.20. Information has appeared that 1.5 kilometers from Black Sea coast Sochi, at a depth of about 70 meters, fragments of the aircraft body were discovered.

13.00. The Ministry of Defense specified the number of those on board - 84 passengers and 8 crew members. It was also reported that 4 ships, 4 helicopters, one airplane and unmanned aerial vehicles were involved in the search and rescue operation. At first, 4 bodies of the dead were lifted aboard the rescue vessel. Then - six more. Additionally, 6 ships and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet, remote-controlled deep-sea vehicles and 63 divers were sent to the disaster area. Then - another 50 divers from other fleets.

15.00. The search and rescue force continued to build up in the area of ​​the plane crash. A search area of ​​10.5 square meters was formed. km. The area was divided into sectors, and the search was organized around the clock. For highlighting coastline at night, floodlights and special equipment are deployed. By this time, 27 ships and vessels, 37 divers, 4 helicopters, UAVs and remote-controlled deep-sea vehicles had already been involved in the search. Medical and psychological assistance teams were on duty at the Adler airfield, and vehicles were allocated to transport relatives of the victims to temporary accommodation.


Seven naive questions about a military plane crash over the Black Sea.

At the Tu-154 crash site, rescuers are removing large pieces of the fuselage. Let us remind you that the plane crashed on December 25. He was heading to the Russian Khmeimim airbase in Syria. There were 92 people on board, eight of whom were crew members.

5. Could all devices fail at once?

The takeoff took place at night. Seems to be simple weather conditions. But at Adler airport, when the plane takes off, about a minute later it ends up in a dark field - no horizon, nothing,” answered Viktor Zabolotsky, an honored test pilot. - Is not central areas, where even in the dark, even when it’s cloudy, there are some light landmarks, somewhere some settlements. From Adler, instrument flight. What if you receive false information, for example, from instruments that give speed, altitude, etc.? Broken somehow? You will have false information about speed and altitude. In such a situation, it is very easy for the pilot to lose the position of the aircraft in space.


Rescuers pulled part of the fuselage out of the water crashed plane Ministry of Defense Tu-154.
Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN

6. Is it true that several passengers managed to put on life jackets?

This information appeared yesterday. True, no photos. If the passengers were wearing life jackets, did that mean they were preparing for an emergency landing? Later, representatives of the Ministry of Defense denied this information. We asked this question to the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The 11 bodies that we raised to the surface did not have vests, the Southern Regional Search and Rescue Team clarified. - Even if we assume that the special equipment from the passengers was washed away by water when the liner fell into the sea, then most likely they would have been visible in the water area.

7. What compensation will relatives receive and can ordinary people who want to help transfer money?

There is no such thing as someone else's grief. As soon as the tragedy happened, many people wanted to help the relatives of the victims. “Is there any special account where I could transfer money?” - they ask.

As Komsomolskaya Pravda was told by the Ministry of Defense, the department did not open such an account. However, a decision has already been made to compensate the relatives of the victims of the tragedy; for each deceased they will be paid 5.8 million rubles. Moreover, regardless of affiliation with the military department, that is, even relatives of human rights activist Elizaveta Glinka (Doctor Lisa). “5.8 million rubles will be ready for payments starting tomorrow,” First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Ruslan Tsalikov said on Sunday evening. “The question now is to quickly process the documents, we will try to do this as concisely as possible and help the relatives of the victims.”

As Komsomolskaya Pravda was told at the mayor's office, all families of deceased Moscow residents will be allocated 1 million rubles from the city budget. If a family has lost several relatives, then this amount will be paid for each deceased. In addition, after the completion of the identification procedure of bodies, the capital’s authorities can fully pay for the funeral.


Everyone continues to bring flowers and candles to the Black Sea shore in memory of the victims...
Photo: Konstantin BREDNIKOV

Alexander KOTS, Svetlana VOLKOVA, Sergey SEMUSHKIN, Alisa TITKO @AlisaTitko, Egor KAZAKOV

MEANWHILE

"KP" publishes photos of fragments of the fuselage of the fallen Tu-154 recovered from the bottom of the Black Sea

Rescuers have already managed to recover several fragments of the crashed plane.

As a result of a search operation in the Black Sea, the wreckage of a fallen Tu-154 Ministry of Defense aircraft is being pulled out of the water.

Specialists from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working at the site of the plane crash - near Adler, almost opposite the airport. ()

How the Tu-154 disappeared from the radar: recordings of conversations between the dispatcher and the aircraft pilot

As follows from the audio, communication with the Ministry of Defense aircraft disappeared a minute after takeoff. All dispatchers unsuccessfully called flight 85572 for several minutes. But in vain ()

Well, after five months of deliberation, the Ministry of Defense provided the final version of the cause of the Tu-154 crash.

Moreover, a week before this, the Minister of Defense said that the picture of the disaster was 99 percent clear.

Apparently, within a week, this mythical one percent was found, and the Ministry of Defense “released” its final version.

So what's the result? The cause of the crash is complete insanity. Whom? Not only PIC Volkov, but also all the crew members in the cockpit. A minute after the start of the flight, the collective mind of the crew came into a stupor, and the plane was sent into the water...

The transformation of the cockpit into room No. 6 was preceded by the injection of various versions, of which there were many during this time. But as soon as “competent sources close to the investigation” voiced technical aspects that could lead to disaster, they were immediately crushed by the serious arguments of specialists.

The version about the explosion on board died, in fact, without being born. Noted already in the first hours by one of the “experts” from the Federation Council, who presented an “indestructible” argument: this happened in Russia, so what kind of terrorist attack? An explosion on board has been ruled out.

And after going through all the solitaire versions, the Moscow Region chose the least evil. For myself. The cause of the crash was human factor. Piloting error.

According to the document, which was distributed on the Internet in advance and was apparently intended to prepare the public for the Ministry of Defense’s version, the basis for the accusation against PIC Volkov was taken from the obtained flight parameters read from the “black” boxes. Moreover, the flight technical data is presented in such a meager form that it can be obtained in such a volume in literally a few hours of reading information from the flight recorders. But in order to give greater weight to the progress of the investigation and create more “fog” in the investigation (and everyone remembers this), the Ministry of Defense announced that reading data from the recorders is a problem on a universal scale, and less than six months later, they finally deciphered it.

So why is the technical data on the basis of which the psychological version of the crash is built and PIC Volkov is accused so meager? Couldn't you get the full information from the parametric recorder? Don't think. This is out of the question.

There is only one reason here - so that it would be difficult for unbiased techies monitoring these notorious “investigations” to identify flaws in the cobbled together version of the Ministry of Defense. But let’s try, even on the basis of this laconicism from the Moscow Region, to do this and refute the conclusions about Volkov’s guilt.

So, the plane landed in Adler at 3 hours 43 minutes.

The crew began takeoff from Adler airfield at 5 hours 24 minutes 36 seconds.

Thus, the plane was in Adler for more than 1.5 hours. As stated, only for refueling without passengers leaving (which in itself is a gross violation of safety). According to regulatory documents, full refueling of a Tu-154 aircraft using standard TZ 22 or TZ 16 tankers is carried out in 18-20 minutes. But it turns out that only 1.5 hours were spent on refueling in Adler. Apparently, during this time the Tu-154 crew, with the direct “energetic” participation of commander Volkov, independently pumped fuel into the plane using hand pumps. And, naturally, we were very tired...

Other important information from the conclusions of the Ministry of Defense that the plane was clearly underloaded (as follows from the document). While the number of passengers was far from complete, there was also only… 150 kg of cargo on board. And here, by informing everyone of this data, the Ministry of Defense absolves itself of responsibility for overloading the vessel. Strong move. Like in chess. It turns out, however, that 92 people flew without any luggage at all, having only a kilogram of “carry-on” luggage on their laps. Even two television crews decided not to take heavy cases with cameras, lights, and batteries, hoping, probably, to film reports with mobile phones.

At the 7th second of the plane’s takeoff, PIC Volkov suddenly becomes nervous, although, as is clear from the released recording of the PIC’s conversations with the airport dispatcher, just before takeoff the PIC’s voice is extremely calm. At the same time, Volkov, in response to the dispatcher’s request about where the takeoff is being prepared, reports that he will take off from the beginning of the runway, since the plane ... “ heavy". Apparently, the 150 kg of cargo on board was an unbearable burden for the half-empty Tu-154 preparing for takeoff...

The plane lifted off from the runway at 34 seconds of takeoff and a speed of 300 km/h. In order not to bother readers with references to regulatory documents, I will only say that for the take-off of the TU-154 with its high power supply, 210 km/h is enough for liftoff. But when fully loaded, this minimum lift-off speed has to be increased. Up to 250-270 km/h. To check this data, instead of reading dry regulatory documents, it is enough to watch the first film “Crew” starring the artist Zhzhenov. There, the takeoff process and the required speed for takeoff of the Tu-154 are shown very clearly.

On 53rd Seconds later the command “retract the flaps” was heard. By this time, the plane had been in the air for 19 seconds and had gained an altitude of 157 meters.

Judging by the report published by the Ministry of Defense, at this point in time the plane was still on the extension of the center line of the runway in straight flight (with a heading angle of the same 238 degrees) and was gaining altitude. The climb in this section occurred at an average rate of slightly more than 8 m/sec. But even after removing the wing mechanization, the flight speed and altitude increased. From the moment of lifting off from the runway, the speed increased by another 60 km/h and amounted to 360 km/h. And the flight altitude increased and amounted to 231 meters. And these parameters were achieved, as again follows from the Ministry of Defense document, before the 63rd second of flight. This means that the parameters for the rate of climb, which were in the first 19 seconds of the flight (8 m/sec), were preserved over the next 10 seconds. (231 meters-157 meters): 10 seconds= 7.4 m/sec.

Consequently, until approximately the 63rd second from the moment the aircraft took off and 29 seconds from the moment it took off from the runway, despite the flaps being retracted, the normal takeoff mode of climbing was in progress.

“The further situation was characterized by the absence of actions by the aircraft controls that were adequate to the change in flight parameters...”

And then the conclusion follows: “...which was due to a violation of the spatial orientation of the PIC.” Did the reader understand the main idea of ​​almost six months of research into the Ministry of Defense, which essentially sentences PIC Volkov?

For better understanding written by MO, I’ll make a simple analogy. With vehicles. You are driving along a straight highway in a car. And let your actions be recorded by the car recorder installed in the car. Suddenly, a force majeure circumstance arises on the road (a hole, a sharply flat tire, a broken tie rod, etc.). Those. something happened that forced you to change the position of the steering wheel in order to try to keep the car on the road. The recorder in the car, equipped with GPS, will record in its memory that you, moving on a straight section of the road, are completely unreasonably suddenly “energetic” (apparently favorite word“experts” from the Moscow Region) began to turn the steering wheel. Those. your actions were inadequate to the surrounding situation (on a straight section of the road). And if your case were considered by such “experts,” the verdict would be as follows: the driver’s actions were due to “violation of spatial orientation.”

So, on the Tu-154 something happened around the 63rd second from the start of movement on the runway (after the plane was in the air for 29 seconds).

As I already said, the unconfirmed conclusion about the cause of the crash from the Ministry of Defense does not in any way, from an expert point of view, explain what happened in the last 10 seconds on board. There is simply a statement of “dry” flight data and... Volkov is accused of causing the crash. All.

And now let's come to the main thing. What went unnoticed during the so-called “investigation” from the Ministry of Defense.

Initial data. The plane took off on course 238 degrees. According to the MoD report, only after the 63rd second (10 seconds before the fall) did the PIC begin to move the plane to the left with the pedals and steering wheel. Although the report says that at the time of the pull to the left at the 63rd second, the plane had a roll to the right (i.e., it turned to the right on a course of more than 238 degrees). I’ll play along with the MO and take, for simplicity, that even at the 63rd second of flight the plane’s heading was still 238 degrees. In other words, he was on the imaginary straight line of the runway.

The MoD report says that at 73 seconds the plane collided with the sea surface while on course 220 degrees. At the same time, having a speed of 540 km/h, a roll to the left of 50 degrees and a vertical speed of approach to the sea of ​​30 m/sec. In other words, the plane, in a steep bank to the left, was actually falling.

And now let’s just do the math and see if the Tu-154, based on its technical data, could have performed such a maneuver?

Judging by the written MO, Volkov turned the plane to the left before the fall. This is confirmed by the crash site, located 340 meters to the left of the extension of the runway center line.

In this case, we are considering data regarding the parameters of the aircraft with the wing mechanization (flaps) removed and the aircraft weighing 80 tons. These are the parameters that the crashed Tu-154 had. Controllability data in the source is summarized in table. 6 on page 78.

In order not to bore the reader with a large volume of unnecessary flight parameters, the data from this table is given below in a truncated form and only with those parameters that are necessary in this case.

Table 1.

According to the Tu-154 piloting theory, Table No. 1 shows that, being in the steepest turn with a bank of 60 degrees (and this is much more than the Tu-154 had in Adler) and moving at the same time at a speed of 550 km/h, the minimum The turning radius for this type of aircraft is 13,350 meters.

So what made the plane change course so sharply and quickly, which, given its technical data, is simply impossible to do with proper equipment? “Energetic” actions of Captain Volkov? No. While flying a serviceable aircraft with proper mechanization, he is simply not able to do this. For the same reason, it was impossible to quickly turn the Titanic away from the iceberg. Only an emergency situation on board could do the impossible - give energy and quickly turn the plane on course. And it was precisely this sudden situation that Volkov struggled with in his last seconds of life with his “inadequate” actions. Instead of sitting and indifferently watching what was happening.

The same textbook on piloting aircraft, including the Tu-154, talks about recommendations for recovering an aircraft from a stall:

1. Immediately sharply release the steering wheel completely and hold itin this position until the required speed increases.

2. Increase engine speed to takeoff.

3. A premature withdrawal attempt may result in a crash.boredom, and in the worst case – to a repeated stall.

4. It must be remembered that the effectiveness of lateral controlin this case it is extremely low, so the pedals and steering wheel on the ailerons are necessaryWe need to keep it neutral until the speed increases. If the plane hasthis moment a tilt has arisen - do not try to eliminate it, as this maylead to a stall transition from one side to the other.

5. You need to bring the plane out of descent smoothly, with minimal movement.with a load so as not to cause it to shake again. Losing altitude on youin the aircraft's water from stall is usually approximately

300-400 m.

6. These are recommendations well known to civil aviation pilotsVladimir Chemguevich Mezokh, who was discussed earlier. He spentmany tests of Il-18, Tu-154B, Tu-154M, Il-86 and othersgih in critical modes and concluded that the inevitable catastanzas when the aircraft reaches the above critical modeswe don't exist.

It is easy to track that Volkov’s struggle for the survivability of the aircraft took place in accordance with these recommendations. Only the position of the throttles (engine thrust control handles) was left behind the scenes in the Ministry of Defense report. The Ministry of Defense report says nothing about ores. But if in the last seconds the thrusters were set to MAX, then according to point 2 Volkov’s actions were correct.


Just asking a few more questions. For what reasons did the inner surface of the fuselage skin of the front cargo compartment change its color and how did a plastic piece with melted edges end up among the belongings of the victims, recovered from the crash site?

Subjects:

The Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 crash over the Black Sea, which killed 92 people, has narrowed. On Tuesday, December 27, divers lifted a piece of the plane's tail section from a 30-meter depth. They found a “black box” in it - a recorder that records flight parameters and the operation of the airliner systems. The military department has not yet published the results of decoding the “box”. But, as Kommersant learned, the recorder recorded a failure of the flap retraction system, which provides additional lift on the wings during takeoff.

According to the publication, although this situation is abnormal, it is not considered critical. Thus, the actions of pilots when it is impossible to remove the flaps are described in detail in the Tu-154 flight manual, and are practiced by crew members in simulators. They are supposed to smoothly compensate for the resulting diving moment with the steering wheel, report the malfunction to the dispatcher, and return to the airfield at low speed.

However, the crew of the military transport Tu-154, the publication claims, was unable to solve the problem. Moreover, by his actions he aggravated the situation. Military pilots allegedly pulled the controls too actively, while simultaneously increasing the engine operating speed in order to quickly gain altitude. As a result, the plane reached the so-called supercritical angles of attack, lost speed and crashed into the sea.

This version agrees with the testimony of an eyewitness to the emergency - an FSB coast guard officer, who compared the plane to a motorcycle moving on its rear wheel.

However, the investigation is still considering other versions of the Tu-154 crash. As the Ministry of Defense stated, “the final conclusions about the causes of the plane crash will be made by a state commission after studying all possible factors.”

Why did the plane really crash?

“The failure of the flap retraction system could not have caused the disaster,” said reserve colonel general, commander of front-line aviation of the Russian Air Force, Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Antoshkin. — Even with the flaps not retracted, you can safely return to the airfield and land. Flaps, like other wing devices, extend during takeoff and landing to increase lift at low speed. Their refusal is not a problem. I personally taught pilots to do without flaps, and to act calmly if they cannot be removed.

In my opinion, the cause of the disaster is different - a failure in the fuel supply system. I believe all three engines on the plane stopped.

“SP”: — Why are we talking about flaps now?

— Perhaps the Tu-154 crew wanted to remove the flaps before a forced landing on water. In this case, the landing gear and flaps must be retracted - in conditions when engine thrust has dropped, the flaps create additional drag, which leads to a dangerous drop in speed.

To find out the true causes of the emergency, it is necessary to take into account all the parameters recorded by the flight recorder, and above all, the engine speed. Since the “black box” was found intact, and there is a recording of the crew’s conversation, the experts will figure it out.

“SP”: — Why do you think that all three engines have stopped, where does this information come from?

— Because the Tu-154 crashed, but it can fly and even take off with only two engines. The failure of all engines indicates problems in the fuel system. The samples of kerosene that were used to fuel the plane have already been thoroughly checked - there are no questions about the fuel. A foreign object could not get through the filler neck either: there is a metal mesh filter there.

This means that the fuel line is clogged, up to the distribution valve, after which the single line branches into three - each to one of the engines. Perhaps the line was clogged by a broken gasket, or there was a fuel leak.

I repeat, all issues related to the release or non-release of flaps are countered by the crew, as long as the plane flies. It is no coincidence that the aviation proverb says: if there was traction, the door would fly. And thrust, as you know, is created by engines.

“If the flaps are not retracted, this is really uncritical, but asynchronous retraction of the flaps creates a critical situation,” says Vladimir Popov, deputy editor-in-chief of the Aviapanorama magazine, Major General, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation. — Let me remind you that the flaps are located on the right and left parts of the half-wing, closer to the fuselage. According to my version, the flap on the right wing of the Tu-154 began to retract at the required speed, but the left flap either lagged behind a little or did not retract at all. This led to the creation of torque along the axis of motion of the aircraft. The Tu-154 tried to make a “barrel”, and the crew prevented this movement.

In normal situations, the forces on the helm - roll and pitch - are 6-8 kilograms, maximum 12 kg. And in the situation in which the Tu-154 found itself, these efforts increase to 25-30 kg. In addition, at low speeds, it happens that the effectiveness of the rudder and ailerons is not enough to compensate for the misalignment of the flaps.

If the speeds had been different, perhaps the outcome for the Tu-154 would have been different too. On the other hand, we do not yet know the information from the recorder that records the flight parameters. It will show whether the crew could, in principle, have prevented the unfavorable development of events, and what exactly they did to stabilize the plane. The crew's actions could also have worsened the situation.

“SP”: — But the primary reason was a technical failure?

— The fault of technology is clear. And the drop in traction, by the way, could have been involuntary. Due to vibrations, the engine control handles (orcs) could move, and the crew had no time to control their position. This is what could lead to loss of traction and speed.

And the crew fought. That is why he made a right turn - the Tu-154, let me remind you, turned almost 100 degrees relative to the given course.

And here you need to understand: if the emergency situation is isolated, it is corrected by the pilots “at once.” But when there are several of them, or accompanying negative aspects arise, there can be difficulties. In this case, the unfavorable factor was the night. The pilots could not see the horizon and piloted the plane solely using instruments.

“I said from the very beginning that the most likely cause of the crash was a failure of the flap mechanization,” notes Hero of Russia, test pilot, honorary president of MAKS Magomed Tolboev. “Either after takeoff the crew exceeded the speed, and the flap mechanism was destroyed, or the flaps were retracted asynchronously, and the plane began to turn to the right, and spun so that the side immediately lost speed.

We had a similar case. We immediately set the flaps to reverse release - and everything became normal. But when we returned to the airfield and inspected the plane, we saw that the flap rod had been torn off and the flap was stuck. A little more and we would have turned over on our backs.

We handled the situations because we were professional test pilots. And in the cockpit of the Tu-154 there was an ordinary crew, perhaps not trained to respond as quickly as possible in emergency situations.